Chihuahua: Size, Lifespan and Care Basics

The American Kennel Club (AKC) gives the Chihuahua a life expectancy of 14 to 16 years. The Royal Kennel Club (RKC) in the UK puts the breed in its “over 12 years” band.

Both figures describe the breed as a whole. They are ranges for typical dogs of the breed, not a forecast for any one dog.

Of the 30 breeds profiled on Pettify, 1 have a longer upper estimate than the Chihuahua and 24 a shorter one.

The RKC suggests grooming a Chihuahua once a week and describes the coat as short (smooth coat); medium (long coat); it lists the breed as one that sheds. On the AKC’s scales the breed rates 2 out of 5 for shedding and 1 out of 5 for how often the coat needs care.

Neither coat takes much time, though they differ. The long coat is the one with a fixed task: a brush at least once a week, the AKC says, so that tangles and mats never get started. A smooth coat gets by with a brush now and then and regular baths.

The color choice is wide. The RKC’s standard list runs from fawn, cream and red to chocolate, blue, brindle, tricolor and a long series of sable shades, and the AKC says coats come in many colors and patterns.

The RKC puts the exercise a Chihuahua needs at up to 30 minutes a day. The AKC rates the breed 4 out of 5 for energy and 3 out of 5 for mental stimulation needs.

Exercise fits into a small space. Much of what a Chihuahua needs, the AKC says, comes from simply trotting after its people around the home, topped up with short walks at an easy pace. With playfulness at 4 out of 5, a game on the living-room floor is real exercise for this breed.

The AKC gives the adult weight of the Chihuahua as “not exceeding 6 pounds”, which is up to 2.7 kg. The height at the shoulder is 5–8 inches.

The name is a place: the Mexican state of Chihuahua, where Americans who took an interest in these dogs in the mid-1800s found plenty of them, the AKC says. The story behind it runs much further back. The AKC traces the breed to the Techichi, the dog of the Toltecs, which the Aztecs are credited with making smaller after they conquered the Toltecs in the 12th century. It came to be counted among Montezuma’s treasures, and after the Spanish conquest it survived in out-of-the-way villages.

Chihuahuas save their warmth for their own people. The AKC rates affection with family 4 out of 5 and calls the breed clannish, adding that a Chihuahua tends to prefer the company of other Chihuahuas. With other dogs in general the score is 3 out of 5, and watchdog instinct rates 4 out of 5.

Training matters more than size suggests. The AKC calls the Chihuahua a clever, quick and keen learner, and compares an untrained one to a little Napoleon in charge of the household. Trainability rates 3 out of 5. Start early: Pettify’s care plan counts a Chihuahua as a puppy until 9 months.

An apartment is fine by the RKC, which pairs it with a small or medium garden and has no preference between town and country. The AKC calls Chihuahuas ideal city pets and mainly indoor dogs that like nothing better than a lap, and it rates their adaptability 4 out of 5. The AKC lists 1904 as the year it recognized the breed, while its history dates the first AKC-registered Chihuahua, Beppie, to 1908. In 2025 the breed was 24th in AKC registrations. Bandleader Xavier Cugat helped make it popular in the 1940s and 1950s, films from Legally Blonde to Beverly Hills Chihuahua kept it on screen, and El Paso, Texas, even named its minor-league baseball team after it.